TrainerRoad alternatives, free: ERG training without a subscription
TrainerRoad is the strongest app for adaptive training plans, and it's a subscription. If what you really use is the ERG workouts, there are free TrainerRoad alternatives that hold your watts just as well: Tour du Pain runs 105 workouts and your own files in a browser tab, Auuki is a small free workout tool, and MyWhoosh has free plans. Here's what each one does, and what none of them replace.
Updated · Written for version 1.36.3
Tour du Pain is free for everyone through 2027, everything included. Donations are optional.
What TrainerRoad does that others don't
TrainerRoad builds a plan around your goal event and changes your next workouts based on how you rode the last ones. Its "TrainerRoad AI" update came in January 2026. It runs on iOS, Android, Windows and Mac. There's no virtual world and no group riding: it's a training tool.
We'll say it plainly: Tour du Pain has nothing like adaptive plans. It doesn't build a season for you or adjust tomorrow's workout. If that's the part you value, TrainerRoad is probably still worth its subscription.
Free TrainerRoad alternatives at a glance
| App | Cost | Runs on | Workouts | Your own files | Adaptive plans | With others |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tour du Pain | Free | Chrome or Edge on a computer, Chromebook or Android | 105 built in, plus a ramp test | .zwo, .erg, .mrc, .fit | No | Yes, one workout with your club |
| Auuki | Free, open source | Chrome, Edge, Opera, Samsung Internet, Brave | A library plus your own | .zwo | No | No |
| MyWhoosh | Free | Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Apple TV | 730 or more, with plans | Unconfirmed | Plans, not adaptive (unconfirmed) | Group rides, races |
| Wahoo SYSTM | Subscription | iOS, Android, Windows, Mac | Video workouts, 4DP test | Unconfirmed | Unconfirmed | No |
| TrainingPeaks Virtual | With TrainingPeaks Premium | Computer, tablet, Apple TV | Your TrainingPeaks plan | Through TrainingPeaks | Through TrainingPeaks | Group rides |
Tour du Pain: ERG workouts in a browser tab
Open tourdupain.app in Chrome or Edge, connect your smart trainer and open Workouts. The trainer holds each block's watts in ERG mode while you ride the lake loop in the bunch. Nothing to install, and it works on a Chromebook too.
105 workouts
The library runs from 20-minute weekday sessions like Easy Twenty to Zone 2 · 5 hours. There are entry versions marked First, such as First Sweet Spot and First VO2max, with lower targets and a gentler warm-up. Then sweet spot, threshold, VO2max, climbing, sprints, racing and skills: Sweet Spot 2×20, Threshold 4×10, VO2max 5×3, 40/20s, Col Simulation, Criterium 45, Smooth Circles.
Search on name, goal or effort, filter by goal, and sort by length, intensity or TSS. Star a workout and it follows your account to every device. Targets are a share of your FTP, so the same workout fits every rider. Sprints shorter than 40 seconds are free blocks: ERG lets go and you ride them on feel.
How a workout rides
The clock waits for your first pedal strokes; the screen says "Start pedalling to begin". From a standstill ERG starts soft and ramps to the target over 6 seconds. The chart shows the blocks ahead with your power and heart rate on it. Skip skips the whole block as the workout lists it, and asks first when more than 2 minutes are left.
The bakery van brings a baguette at the 5 km marks, also in workouts, and waits for a calm stretch if the mark falls inside hard work. Afterwards the ride report shows your numbers, zones and TSS. More in ERG workouts in your browser.
Your own files
Tap Import workout, or drop a file on the Workouts screen. Tour du Pain loads .zwo (Zwift), .erg, .mrc and .fit workout files and rides them like the built-ins. So a workout you built elsewhere, or one your coach sent, comes along.
The ramp test
The Ramp Test starts with 5 minutes at 40% of your FTP, then goes up 6% of FTP every minute until you can't hold a step. Your new FTP is 75% of your best minute. It ends when you do, so ride it fresh. See the FTP ramp test.
One workout with your club
We found nothing like it in the other apps on this list. When a club captain plans a club ride, it can be one workout together: everyone rides the same blocks on their own FTP, on one clock, and talks over club radio. Join late and you're where the group is. See indoor rides for cycling clubs.
Good: free through 2027, everything included, and it runs on donations; 105 workouts; your own files; a club on one clock; every ride to Strava, or as a .fit file for Garmin Connect and intervals.icu.
Less good: no adaptive plans and no training calendar; no iPhone or iPad; only one trainer tested on real hardware so far, the Wahoo KICKR CORE over FTMS.
Auuki
Auuki is a free, open-source workout app that runs in the browser over Web Bluetooth. It has ERG, grade simulation and resistance mode, runs Zwift .zwo workouts, and syncs with intervals.icu and Strava. It's a tool more than a game: no world, no other riders.
Good: free, light, open source. Who it's for: riders who want a plain workout screen in a browser.
MyWhoosh
MyWhoosh is free and has a large library of 730 or more workouts with training plans, inside a 3D world with racing. It links to intervals.icu. Whether its plans adapt to your results the way TrainerRoad's do, we couldn't confirm.
Good: free plans and racing in one app. Less good: an app to install, no browser or Chromebook version. See MyWhoosh alternatives.
Wahoo SYSTM
Wahoo SYSTM, from the team behind The Sufferfest, has video-led workouts and its four-number fitness test, 4DP. It's a subscription, so it isn't free, but it's the closest thing to TrainerRoad's coaching feel with more entertainment.
TrainingPeaks Virtual
If a coach plans your training in TrainingPeaks, TrainingPeaks Virtual rides those workouts in a 3D world with group rides. It comes with TrainingPeaks Premium. Triathletes often land here; see indoor training for triathlon.
Plans without a planning app
You can get most of a plan without paying for one. Pick a plan from a book or a coach, build its workouts as .zwo files (or download them), import them into Tour du Pain and ride them in ERG. Upload the .fit files to intervals.icu, which tracks your fitness and fatigue for free. It's more work than TrainerRoad doing it for you, but it costs nothing.
Tour du Pain's links to intervals.icu and TrainingPeaks are off for now, so you upload the .fit file yourself from the ride report. Strava uploads directly once you link it. See Strava, Garmin and .fit files.
Questions
Is there a free alternative to TrainerRoad?
For ERG workouts, yes: Tour du Pain is free through 2027, everything included (it runs on donations), and Auuki and MyWhoosh are free too. For adaptive plans we know of no free equal.
Can I ride my TrainerRoad workouts in Tour du Pain?
If you can export them as .zwo, .erg, .mrc or .fit workout files, yes. Import them on the Workouts screen and they ride in ERG on your FTP.
Does Tour du Pain have training plans?
No. It has 105 workouts, a ramp test and favourites, but no plan that schedules or adapts your training.
What is ERG mode?
The smart trainer holds a set power. Pedal faster or slower and the resistance changes, so you stay on each block's target watts.
Do I need a smart trainer?
For ERG, yes. With a power meter on a basic trainer you can still follow a workout: the targets show on screen and you match them with your gears. See riding with a power meter only.
How do I find my FTP?
Ride the Ramp Test. Power goes up every minute until you can't hold it, and your FTP is 75% of your best minute.
Sources
Checked on 7 November 2026: TrainerRoad's supported devices, BikeRadar, best indoor cycling apps, Auuki on GitHub, MyWhoosh supported devices and Slowtwitch on TrainingPeaks Virtual.
